“The royal commission process is designed to try to make the situation better for the future, for the survivors and to prevent the repetition of all this suffering in the future,” he said.

“I hope that my appearance here has contributed a bit to healing, to improving the situation. All the leadership of the church in Australia is committed to avoiding any repetition of the terrible history of the past and to try to make things better.”

When asked what was the most difficult moment for him while taking the stand, Pell identified “reading the transcript of the way the victims suffered in preparation for this” as his most trying point in the past four days.

Taking only a few questions, Pell refused to delve further into the question that was put to him by a lawyer for one of the sex abuse victims, where he admitted the feeling of being victim of a witch hunt had crossed his mind.

When asked why he had admitted to those feelings, he left journalists with: “I think I can leave you to work that out.”

Australian media question George Pell after his marathon cross-examination at the royal commission.Source:news.com.au

Pell confirmed he would be meeting with sex abuse survivors at the hands of Catholic priests in Australia tomorrow.

“I was born in Ballarat and I’m very proud of my connection there,” he said.

“I grieve for the suffering of the people whom I regard as my own people and I’ll be meeting with the survivors tomorrow, and please got that’ll take us a little bit forward.”